Sauk Rapids man's Star Trek book finds home in Smithsonian

SAUK RAPIDS Bill Kraft's book about Star Trek has boldly gone where no book about the sci-fi series' commemorative postage stamp has gone before, he thinks — the Smithsonian.

The retired English teacher from Sauk Rapids wrote about his effort to commemorate Star Trek on a stamp; his book has been added to the library collections of the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C.

"It was a long shot, but the whole stamp campaign was a long shot," Kraft said. "It's the sort of validation that makes it all worth the effort."

The National Postal Museum Library is one of 20 specialized libraries in the Smithsonian Institution Libraries system and was established in 1993. It has more than 40,000 books, journals, catalogs and archival documents; it is among the world's largest postal history and philatelic research facilities.

"The mission of the National Postal Museum is the preservation, study and presentation of postal history and philately through stamps and objects," NPM Librarian Baasil Wilder wrote in his letter to Kraft after receiving his book.

"Your generosity helps to achieve this goal and is very much appreciated by all of us."

"Maybe We Need a Letter from God: The Star Trek Stamp" by Kraft includes more than 80 letters of support for the commemorative stamp from prominent names in science fiction, science, education and government.

"It's an eclectic representation of people ... so I think maybe that is why the museum accepted my book," Kraft said. His self-published book about the 13-year campaign to honor Star Trek on a postage stamp is available at Amazon.com.

The 73-year-old became a Trekkie in 1979 as he watched the ending of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," which finished optimistically with the creation — instead of the destruction — of a new life form.

"Star Trek has fired the imagination of a whole generation of young people, and it continues to do so," Kraft said. "And it has had an educational impact on our schools."

Kraft said he believed his book would be included in the NPM Library's collections when he donated a copy.

"There are endorsement letters in that book from Dr. Martin Harwit, former director of the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian," he said. "That connection may have been a factor in our favor in the book's acceptance."

About the NPM Library

The National Postal Museum Library focuses mainly on philately and postal service in the United States, but its collections represent material from Canada, Great Britain, Germany and France.